Sector 36, a Netflix film directed by Aditya Nimbalkar, starring a menacing Vikrant Massey and a supremely vulnerable Deepak Dobriyal, stands out for its responsible stance on how crime is depicted on screen. Inspired by the notorious Nithari serial killings of 2005-06, the film tells a chilling story without falling into the trap of sensationalising violence—a common pitfall in crime dramas. This is not to say that there aren’t horrifyingly violent moments involving flesh and blood, but these are aimed to make the viewer shudder; it’s never romanticised.

Massey plays Prem Singh, a domestic help loosely based on Surinder Koli, Akash Khurana portrays his employer, Balbir Singh Bassi, and Dobriyal plays Ram Charan Pandey, a sub-inspector of police.

Avoiding harmful imitations

One of the film’s standout moments is a confession scene where Singh admits to the brutal murders of 22 children, including a girl named Chumki. As Pandey presses Singh for details on how he disposed of her body without being caught, Singh begins to explain his process. However, rather than delivering explicit information, the filmmakers mute Singh’s voice, replacing it with haunting ambient sounds—an ethical artistic choice. By doing this, the film heightens the emotional tension without exposing the audience to a step-by-step guide on how to dispose of a body. This decision ensures that the film doesn’t provide potential criminals with dangerous ideas, addressing a very real concern about “copycat crimes.”

By omitting these explicit details, Sector 36 prioritises public safety and moral responsibility over shock value. The filmmakers make it clear that while they are telling a true-crime-inspired story, they are not offering a voyeuristic peek into the mind of a killer. Instead, they focus on the emotional and psychological weight of the crimes, and with the strategic use of sound and silence, the maker effectively keeps the audience engaged while minimising the risk of copycat crimes.

The reality of copycat crimes

Copycat crimes occur when individuals replicate widely publicised crimes, inspired by real or fictional accounts. In media-saturated societies, where sensational crimes often dominate headlines and entertainment, some become obsessed with the details and end up using them as templates, motivated either by a desire to be famous for notoriety or because of their personal grievances.

Real-life examples prove this isn’t just a theoretical problem. The 2022 murder of Shraddha Walkar by Aaftab Amin Poonawala, allegedly inspired by the American series Dexter, is a chilling reminder of how the media can blur the line between fiction and reality. Poonawala reportedly mirrored the methods shown in the show to dispose of his partner’s body over several months. Similarly, Natural Born Killers, directed by Oliver Stone, faced backlash for allegedly inspiring real-life murders, prompting debates about the media’s influence on violent behaviour.

Crime reportage: Raising awareness or risking imitation?

The debate over the role of crime media is ongoing. Some shows, like Crime Patrol and Savdhaan India, claim to raise awareness about crime by depicting real incidents. However, they’ve been criticised for portraying crimes in such explicit detail that they unintentionally offer a “how-to” guide for potential criminals. While the intention is to engage audiences and inform them, these shows often cross the line, sometimes becoming an unintentional manual for violence.

In 2019, Subhash Bokan, public relations officer for the Gurugram police, cited a case in which a man was murdered, and his body was disposed of in a stream to avoid detection. The culprits admitted to copying techniques they had seen on Crime Patrol.

The same year, Madhur Verma, then deputy commissioner of Delhi Police, and now joint commissioner, acknowledged the complexity of the issue, and noted that banning crime shows wouldn’t prevent crimes, as many criminal stories are already widely covered in the news. “If certain crime shows are entertaining people, we can’t put a bar on them; we cannot curb crimes by doing that,” he said. This sheds light on the challenge of balancing free artistic expression with societal concerns about public safety.

A way forward: Responsible storytelling

Sector 36, with the balanced approach of passing on the emotional weight to the audience without explicit details of the crime, offers a model for responsible storytelling.

As crime dramas continue to draw large audiences, filmmakers must acknowledge the influence they possess. The line between fiction and reality is thinner than ever, and the media has a responsibility to ensure their narratives don’t blur the line further. By adopting responsible practices, the entertainment industry can continue to tell compelling stories without adding to the risk of inspiring real-world violence.